GenTech Intrigues Yahoo Finance

A Yahoo Finance Contributer recently mentioned us in an article covering the 2014 East Coast Cannabis Business Expo.

Pot business conferences are hot. Here's what they're like

Marijuana business conferences have been all the rage lately, and last weekend I checked one out.

The 2014 East Coast Cannabis Business Expo in Manhattan’s Times Square was part political fundraiser, part trade show and part industry conference.

I came across a guy wearing a Wake and Bake hat, a couple seeking help for their sick child, a few suits and two guys talking about the potential for cannabis eye cream to tone down their fine lines.

This particular event focused on medical marijuana. New York legalized medical marijuana in July and is working to implement legislation over the next year.

The conference drew hundreds of attendees and made a couple of things very clear: there’s wide interest in the marijuana business, and a lot of people are looking beyond growing, dispensing and pharmaceuticals to focus on ancillary business opportunities.

Here are the 2 companies that intrigued me most:

Franwell - Franwell is a privately held tech company from Florida that developed metrc, an RFID system for tagging and tracking cannabis and cannabis products. The Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division has been using it, and a recent Brookings Institute report called it “the backbone of Colorado’s regulatory structure governing legal marijuana.”

As more states look to legalize marijuana, systems like metrc could quickly be in high demand.

GenTech - GenTech is a laboratory equipment company that’s developed tools to test THC potency, cannabis concentrate quality and for pesticides and molds.

Nobody wants to have a Maureen Dowd moment. A company like GenTech — with its ability to test the THC potency of cannabis candy bars — can help.

We’ll have more for you from the conference soon at finance.yahoo.com.